The upcoming summit in Alaska between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will serve to gauge the Kremlin's willingness to end the war in Ukraine, according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Sunday.
Speaking on ABC News' "This Week" with co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Rutte also credited Trump with taking significant steps to pressure Moscow and said Friday's meeting could be a critical step toward peace.
"It is important that the meeting takes place next Friday," he said, adding that Trump is "clearly putting pressure on Putin."
"President Trump broke a deadlock with Putin in February that was very important," Rutte said. "He was the one delivering the big success at the NATO summit [with] the 5% spending commitments in June, [which was] one of the biggest foreign policy successes of the U.S. in the last couple of years."
European nations are pressing for an agreement that includes a ceasefire, reciprocal withdrawals of forces, and firm security guarantees for Ukraine, potentially including a path to NATO membership, and Rutte said he believes Trump supports that position.
"I do believe that," he said. "Donald Trump wants to end this. He wants to end the terrible loss of life. He wants to end the terrible damage being done to the infrastructure in Ukraine."
Rutte added that recent talks in Europe involving Vice President JD Vance, European leaders, and Ukrainian officials have produced "a good statement" ahead of the summit.
The full-scale negotiations, he said, will not only be about security guarantees, but "about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides of its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation."
Rutte further stressed that the talks must not place NATO limitations on its presence in countries such as Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.
Critics, meanwhile, have warned that the talks could result in Trump yielding concessions to Moscow, but Rutte disagreed, telling Karl that "We have seen President Trump putting incredible pressure on Russia."
He pointed to new U.S. tariffs on India, which he said could pressure New Delhi, a major buyer of Russian oil, to press Moscow toward ending the conflict. He also cited Trump's decision to resume large-scale lethal weapons deliveries to Ukraine, funded by Europe but provided by the United States.
"This is all clear evidence that President Trump is absolutely adamant to bring this war to an end, but also to keep maximum pressure on Putin," Rutte said.
"Next Friday will be important because it is testing Putin, how serious he is in this whole process, which will then have to continue after Friday, with Ukrainian folks, with others involved, to bring this war to an end," he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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